Positive and negative influences of social participation on physical and mental health among community-dwelling elderly aged 65–70 years: a cross-sectional study in Japan

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough numerous investigations have indicated that social participation (SP) has positive effects on the health of older adults, there have been few studies on its negative health consequences. We examined the cross-sectional associations of the type, frequency, and autonomy for SP with physical and mental health.MethodsThe analytical subjects were 5126 males and 7006 females who were functionally independent, born between 1945 and 1949, and covered by A City’s medical insurance system. Physical and mental health were measured using the SF-8 Health Survey. SP was measured through six types of social groups. These social groups included volunteer groups, sports groups, hobby clubs, senior citizens’ clubs, neighborhood community associations, and cultural groups. Analysis of covariance was conducted to compare adjusted physical health component summary scores (PCS) and mental health component summary scores (MCS) by the frequency and autonomy of SP. Age, family size, body mass index, chronic conditions, smoking, alcohol intake, depression and cognitive functioning were included as covariates. To examine whether the associations between SP and PCS/MCS are different between genders, we performed analyses stratified by gender.ResultsOverall, positive associations of the frequency and autonomy of SP with PCS and MCS were stronger in females than males. As to frequency, frequent participation in sports groups and hobby clubs had significantly better PCS among both genders and better MCS among females than non-participation. None of the groups differed significantly in the MCS among males. As to autonomy, among both genders, voluntary participation in sports groups and hobby clubs had significantly better PCS than non-participation, and better MCS than not only non-participation, but also obligatory participation. Among females, obligatory participation in all groups had significantly poorer MCS than voluntary participation, and obligatory participation in sports groups had significantly poorer MCS than non-participation.ConclusionsObligatory SP had significantly poorer MCS than voluntary participation, occasionally than non-participation; there is a possibility that obligatory SP has harmful influences on mental health of community-dwelling elderly. Measures to promote SP with consideration for individuals’ autonomy may be effective in the public health approach to maintaining mental health.

Influence of social participation on life satisfaction and depression among Chinese elderly: Social support as a mediator

“…This result is consistent with activity theory, which suggested that the well‐being of the elderly can benefit from social participation. Our results also agreed with previous research findings (Cheng, ; Lee & Nam, ; Rashedi et al., ; Tomioka et al., ), which demonstrated that social participations played significant role on mental health of elderly. For example, Grammatikopoulos and Koutentakis () illustrated that the elderly with minor participation in the Open Care Centre were associated with higher risk of depression and anxiety.…”

“…Empirical evidence also illustrated that mental health is significantly associated with social participation (Rashedi, Gharib, & Yazdani, 2014), and the role of social participation in the mental health of the elderly has been demonstrated by many researches (Kanamori, Takamiya, & Inoue, 2015;Takagi, Kondo, & Kawachi, 2013;Tomioka, Kurumatani, & Hosoi, 2017).…”

Healthy aging from the perspective of the elderly: an integrative review

“…It is worth mentioning that voluntary work should respect the autonomy of the elderly, or it may influence their mental health in a harmful way instead of bringing benefits 36 .…”

Melancholy or mahjong? Diversity, frequency, type, and rural-urban divide of social participation and depression in middle- and old-aged Chinese: A fixed-effects analysis

“…One potential underlying reason may be that the social significance of SP varies amongst specific types and across the cultural contexts of investigation (Chiao et al, 2011). For instance, hobby clubs in prior literature were often referred to painting or music (Nummela et al, 2008;Tomioka et al, 2017), which are much less popular amongst middle-and old-aged Chinese. Instead, mah-jong ("麻 将" in Chinese) is one of the most popular hobbies in China's context and other Asian ethnic groups (Cheng et al, 2006).…”

“…As some prior studies have observed a gender disparity in the association between SP and mental health (Takagi et al, 2013;Tomioka et al, 2017), we also stratified the sample by gender to better understand this relationship. The findings suggested negative associations between SP and depressive symptoms in both women and men alike.…”